A ladder is used to help people reach places they would not ordinarily be able to reach. Ladders are often used to climb onto roofs of buildings and are used when washing window or painting. In normal use, the bottom portion of the ladder rests on the ground or other surface, and the top end of the ladder typically leans against the building or work surface. The ladder is oriented at an angle which makes it easy for a user to climb up and down the ladder, and also aids in keeping the ladder from slipping. The angle recommended by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration ("OSHA") is seventy five and one-half degrees whereby the ladder slants from the vertical toward to work surface.
There are several attachments intended to stabilize a ladder to reduce the possibility of injury. Other attachments span windows and doors to make working around windows and doors easier. Such attachments, while facilitating work near windows, does nothing to facilitate work at corner. In fact, the attachments that span windows actually position a worker farther from the corner than the ladder alone. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that it would be highly desirable to have a ladder attachment that spans a corner to position a worker at the corner.
Ordinary ladders without stabilizers can be positioned adjacent a corner, but there will be great lateral instability whenever a worker reaches or leans outside the rails of the ladder. The ladder can be positioned on the corner with the rungs resting on the corner to support the ladder which is obviously unsafe. An attempt to use window spanning attachments on a corner will fail because the ladder moves toward the corner under load coming to rest on the rungs.
In addition, the motion of the attachment against the wall may damage the wall because of the small area of contact the attachment makes with the wall. The contact area is small because an attachment made for flat contact with a straight wall will contact the sides of the corner at an angle instead of directly. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that it would be highly desirable to have a ladder attachment that spans a corner and holds the rungs off the corner without damaging the structure.